At UCLA, Cross was an All-America selection. As a senior he helped lead his team to the 1976 Rose Bowl championship over top-ranked Ohio State . Cross began his career as a Center, but was moved to Right Guard for his junior year before playing both Guard and Center as senior on a rare rotating nine man offensive line. On this rotating line Cross started at RG on the 1st unit and then moved to Center when the next group hit the field. He was named First-team All-America in 1975. He was also a First-team All-Conference selection in 1975 In his career he was a starter in 28 of 34 career games including his final 23. Randy Cross (and many other UCLA linemen) also played collegiate rugby for the school. Randy was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

In 1976, Cross was selected in the second-round of the NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers; his 13-year career included six All-Pro selections, three Pro Bowl selections and three Super Bowl championships (SB XVI, XIX, XXIII). Cross' last game as a player was Super Bowl XXIII in 1989. Randy played center from 1976–78 then guard from 1979–87 before finishing his career in San Francisco at center in 1988. Upon his retirement after Super Bowl XXIII, Randy joined the Miller Lite All Star's cast making a series of popular commercials for the brewing giant.

Cross left CBS (following their loss of the NFC package to Fox) to join NBC Sports as a football analyst for NFL telecasts and a part-time analyst for Notre Dame football games. In 1998, he returned to CBS Sports as a game analyst before serving as a studio analyst on The NFL Today from 1999-2001. He eventually returned to his game analyst duties in 2002. He co-hosts shows also on the Sirius NFL Radio. In 2009, he also became the color analyst for US Naval Academy home games on CBS College Sports TV. He is also formerly the lead color commentator for New England Patriots pre-season games, from 1995 to 2012 alongside Don Criqui.

He lives in Alpharetta, Georgia, with his wife, Patrice, and their three children. Oldest daughter Kelly graduated from University of Georgia and currently works for Levick Strategic Communications in Washington, D.C. Youngest daughter Crystal recently graduated from Auburn University with a degree in BioMedical Science. Son, Brendan, plays football for UCLA after transferring from Wake Forest University.[5] His father, Dennis Cross (1924–1991), was an American actor, who had the lead role in the syndicatedadventure series The Blue Angels (1960–1961).